Even before its release last week, The Woodsman, starring Kevin Bacon as a paedophile on parole after 12 years in prison, had provoked an outcry. National listeners' group Mediawatch urged the government to ban it for showing paedophiles as "normal".

But the film has won praise from adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse and child protection experts for its complex and disturbing portrayal of the difficulties posed by sex offenders living in the community.

The film treads a fine line between inviting sympathy for Walter (played by Bacon) and reminding us of the awful nature of his crimes. Despite telling his therapist he just wants to be normal, Walter struggles to control his predatory instincts when he arrives in a new town and gets a job at a lumberyard. He counts out the steps to the gates of the school playground his flat overlooks, and trails young girls at the local mall before homing in on a lonely 11-year-old in a park.

Martyn Sullivan, national coordinator of Survivors UK, a support group for male survivors of sexual abuse, backs the film for presenting a paedophile as "a human being and not just a monster". He says: "I liked the way it invited you to sympathise with Walter because that is what perpetrators try to do themselves, but then you are reminded what he has done."

Sullivan also praised the film for presenting paedophilia as a societal problem. Walter's past is exposed when a work colleague finds his details on the register of sex offenders - publicly accessible in some US states. "We do have a right to know about sex offenders in the community but as the film shows, going into panic mode is not the best way to handle it," he says.

Donald Findlater, project manager of child protection charity Stop It Now!, found the film flawed but he disputes claims that it condones paedophilia. "I don't think the film left you with the sense he was no longer a risk to children."

Many of the probation officers working with paedophiles who attended a screening of The Woodsman by the charity last week want their clients to see the film. "It poses the question, 'what sort of life do we want for these people?' Should they be able to have a relationship, find work without being exposed? There are thousands of men like Walter in the community, so this is a debate we need to have."